Water Running Temp and Fans...

[chris1972]

Just a quickie, but this is the first really mild day where I've been driving the car in normal temps and it seems to be running hot.

During the cold spells, it was running around the 50-60deg mark. The fans tended to cut in around 80 (or just before) and quickly reduced the temperature. I've been doing a little town driving today and the weather is a bit milder. Fine on a run (just under 70 degrees) however, the temperature quickly rises in town and I'm struggling getting it down again. Even when the fans kicked in, it seemed to maintain a constant late 70's early 80's temp. I'll check the coolant level tomorrow morning, but I cannot see any obvious leaks.

This evening, I left it to idle on my drive to check the temp. The fans cut in around 80 degrees, then switched off and the temp continued to climb towards 90, which is when I turned the engine off. I have the fan override switch, but wondered what would cause this?

Any ideas?

[chris1972]

Thanks for the advice everyone, very much appreciated. I had been doing a lot of stop/ start driving, parking up for ten minutes etc, however, I'm still getting used to the characteristics of my car at the moment. I'm used to seeing a temp gauge in my diesel that never moves, so watching these dials go up and down has become a bit of a past time whilst driving!

I'll also check out the Roverguage software. Thanks for the offer Graham. I travel to London fairly frequently, so if I'm heading up your way I'll drop you an e-mail and see if we can hook up for a brew. First thing tomorrow, coolant check!

If there's one thing that I've learnt is that these cars get hot very quickly. Is there anywhere that these cars are known for coolant leaks that I can check? I've had a good look under the bonnet, but cannot see anything.

Cheers
Chris

[chris1972]

Okay, I've checked the coolant and it isn't particularly low,has a green and sludgy scum in both tanks, so I think it's time for a drain, flush and new coolant. It is cold this morning, so I expect some of the sludge to solidify a little in the cold, but there seems to be quite a lot. I've prodded a bar into the main tank and there's plenty of blue coolant in there.

Main coolant tank:


Expansion tank:

[chris1972]

Which hoses do I remove to flush the system? Do I have to wait for the thermostat to operate a couple of times to allow the clean coolant etc to circulate?

Anybody got a pic of the hoses I need to remove?

[chris1972]

Bassfiend said:

Just popping the bottom hose off should get you pretty much a complete drain (there'll still be some remains in the heater matrix) and yes, you really do need to get the thermostat to open to get a decent flush.

Of course you could pop the thermostat out ...

Phil

Cheers Phil

A job for Monday... any recommendations on coolant?

[chris1972]

I was planning on flushing. The car has done 6k miles in nearly 4 years, so I'm suspecting that the coolant is old too.

Can somebody post a shot of where the thermostat is? I'm just wondering is this is worth removing to get a really clean flush?

Cheers
Chris

[chris1972]

Other than a good flush and fresh coolant what do you suggest? I would have thought that this would be the most logical path. I can't have been in the engine more than 6k miles, so it isn't as if has been run for years.

[chris1972]

ChimpofDarkness said:

Follow the instructions to the letter.

In your case you may require two treatments.

For best results do the two treatments a couple of weeks apart.

We used to call this product "Snot Gone"

Works a treat